Aircraft have been developed with a capability for performing vertical takeoff and landings. Such a capability may allow for the aircraft to reach relatively rugged terrains and remote locations, where it may be impractical or infeasible to construct a runway large enough to allow for a traditional aircraft (lacking vertical takeoff capability) to takeoff or land.
Typically these aircraft capable of performing vertical takeoff and landings have engines and propulsors that are vectored to generate both vertical thrust and forward thrust. However, the design characteristics that make a propulsor efficient for vertical takeoff and landing may not result in efficient forward flight. Accordingly, existing aircraft capable of performing vertical takeoff and landing include propulsors that may be well suited for generating vertical thrust, but that may not be very well suited for efficient forward flight. This discrepancy between vertical takeoff and landing and cruise efficiency is exaggerated as cruise speed increases. An aircraft capable of more efficiently performing a vertical takeoff and landing combined with high speed cruise would therefore be useful.
It will further be appreciated that certain vertical takeoff and landing aircraft may not include the same amount of redundancy as fixed wing aircraft for certain operations, such as forward flight operations. Accordingly, a vertical takeoff and landing aircraft that is able to continue operations in the event of a failure condition would be particularly useful.